The Dot: Kirkland Museum Blog

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

New Herbert Bayer Textile

white moon on green by Herbert Bayer 1961

German born artist Herbert Bayer has been a long time favorite of art connoisseurs, dealers and historians. His influential and diverse stylistic changes throughout the 20th century have secured him a well-deserved place in Art History. Bayer is internationally recognized as one of the leading artists to emerge from the German Bauhaus art school of the 1920s and early 1930s. His unique combinations of color, form and compositions are unmistakable and appeared in a variety of different mediums during his lifetime. Kirkland Museum' s most recent Herbert Bayer acquisition is a wool textile entitled white moon on green. Created in 1961, this work is a rare example of just how far Bayer was willing to experiment with different mediums.

Herbert Bayer began working on his "Moon and Structures" compositions in the 1960s. Bayer's "Moon and Structure" paintings never repeat themselves. He believed these simple geometric forms, when combined with vibrant colors, held endless possibilities. The textiles he created during this time were not recreations of his paintings. They were entirely unique and, like white moon on green, were created in small editions of around 10-20. The brilliant example on display at Kirkland Museum was created by the German manufacturer Ewald Kroener, an avid collector of Herbert Bayer. Bayer felt textiles offered an alternative that couldn't be found in paint. The wool dye created a unique visual experience. He picked up this idea from the color expressions found in Moroccan textiles. In 1972 Bayer wrote, "It was the power and the glow of the North African light which opened my eyes again to the world of pure colors. I had the clear feeling and the immediate impulse to forget my previous works and to start again at the beginning with an emptied mind and a clean table, to learn anew." Visitors are invited to experience one of Herbert Bayer's most unique mediums up close and personal, now on display at Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Arts.